Such devices are commonly used for cooking on a serving table in front of people who are about to eat or are used as free-standing items in, say, a kitchen where they are separate from the actual cooking hob. Such devices need to be supported in a steady and sturdy manner so that the hot cooking pan is clear of the surface on which the device is resting. This avoids scorching of that surface.
Normally such devices have a number of legs which are joined to the underside of the heated cooking container. At least three legs are necessary for stability and normally four legs are used to give improved stability.
There are however many disadvantages in using individual legs. First of all, each leg has to be separately joined to the metal food container and the join has, for reasons of hygiene, to be of a type which will leave the interior of the cooking pan completely flat. This can be achieved by localised resistance welding of a small spigot or the like to the cooking pan but such welds are relatively time-consuming and expensive if a good secure join is to be achieved and thereafter each individual leg or foot has to be individually joined to the spigot. Also, the use of even four legs can often still result in a relatively unstable structure. By way of example, if the cooking pan is in the form of a wide, shallow pan, it is not really practical to join the legs at points far removed from the centre and so the pan can still easily be tipped over during use.
Further, if a leg or the join between a leg and the pan falls, the device is immediately rendered useless and this can be dangerous if there is hot cooking oil or the like in the pan which can spill or splash onto the user.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cooking device which is more stable in use and which is cheaper and simpler to manufacture.